Underneath the signs of stim abuse and sleepless nights, there's something of a beautiful woman in Tavi. She moves with a natural agility and grace that border on the inhuman, which is evinced during her time behind the controls of a ship. Preferring to dress in simple clothes, Tavi has the ability to pull off finery as well as her old Alliance military clothing. Rarely does Tavi travel off the ship without her ballistic mesh undershirt and armored duster, or the quick-draw holster containing her trusted shotgun. Her eyes tend to dart around when she hasn't recently injected herself with something, and all too often Tavi takes on the appearance of someone utterly spaced out. She is wracked constantly by the fears of her past, and the spectres of the mutiny haunt her still. It's quite evident on her face.

At five foot seven, she isn't the tallest woman around, but the majority of that is leg. She's a slight woman, eaten away by the drugs she injects into herself regularly. Someone once described her voice as 'whiskey sour,' and it was the only compliment Tavi felt herself accepting as true. She is meticulous about keeping her fingernails clean.

Tavi's workspace tends to be exact and ordered, even if she's forgotten to shower that day. The strewn remains of cigarette butts can be found in coffee cups, ash trays, and once in her shoe--but she makes sure the ash goes where it's supposed to go. There's a strange order to how Tavi operates.

Her bedroom has a rack of three garden bunks, which provides her with small amounts of fresh vegetables on a semi-regular basis. A large locker contains a variety of survival goods, things she's looted from other vessels or bought when trading aboard less savory stations. Cans of fire jelly, canned food, nutrient bars, spices both rare and common, immunization packets, water purification crystal packets, filtration canteens--it's a survivalist's dream. Tavi's extremely protective of the locker, and everything within is organized to the utmost degree.

Personality

Octavia was once the brilliant daughter of a respected Senator and a magnificent guildmaster. She had a mind for mathematics that paired nicely with her natural agility, making things like ship piloting a breeze. Her world was ordered, precise, and exact. Some might've called her OCD, although they would've done so out of earshot--the woman had a terrible temper, and her acerbic barbs flew easily. Ultimately, Octavia was gifted. Worse, she knew it.

Her time in the Academy was marked with merits and scholarships, both thanks to her parents' influence and her own abilities. She was a remarkable young woman whose loyalty to the Alliance seemed utterly unshakable. Tavi's aptitude in the Black was a delight to witness.

After the Mutiny, however, Tavi's world shattered. Plagued by intense and reoccurring traumatic visions, Octavia's personality shifted greatly. Still sadistic, Tavi's prejudice against the Browncoats has manifested itself as a sort of ward against the memory of the Reavers. She started to self-medicate, and her personality shifts depending on the cocktail of drugs swirling through her body. Her mind no longer runs as smoothly. Everything is brittle, now.

Skills

Job: Pilot

Thanks to her time in the Alliance Military, Tavi has a series of skills. Most of them have atrophied.

Cooking - Novice

Athletics - Novice

Covert Operations - Competent

Discipline - Competent

Guns - Competent, specialty in shotguns

Ship Weapons - Novice

Speechcraft - Novice

General Knowledge - College Education

Mechanical Engineering - Novice

Perception - Competent

Piloting - Masterful

Driving - Novice

Technical Engineering - Novice

The basic training of an Alliance soldier, with the specialization of anyone working on a ship--and further specialization of anyone piloting a ship. While she can't act as a chief mechanic, she at least understands what a spanner is and why one oughtn't toss it into the gears. While she can't program, she understands how to reset a computer. When it comes to things like surviving on a planet, fighting hand to hand, diagnosing a wound, applying for a loan, taking care of fish--these are areas Tavi is utterly without knowledge.

History

Born on Londinium, Octavia Yeats was privileged beyond compare. Her father was a Senator, her mother a guildmaster, and her brain was a marvel. Tavi grew up on her own and found that the usual areas of education didn't appeal to her. Occupying herself with mathematics, the strange little girl excelled academically and had trouble socially. Her latent obsessive compulsive disorder began to show itself around the age of seven. It was around this time Tavi's sadistic streak started to manifest as well--she tormented the tutors and servants who had to interact with her, lashing out as isolation took its toll.

In an effort to prevent their daughter from showing up on the Cortex as a miscreant--or otherwise tarnishing their sterling reputation--the Yeats sent their daughter to a special school for gifted individuals. Here, Tavi got her taste of flight. Suddenly, everything made sense. She took to the activity with gusto, and channeled her nervous energy into the art of flying. This brought her into contact with other students, and gave her a chance to bond over something constructive. Tavi started to make friends.

Her graduation transitioned directly into the Alliance navy, given that path would lead her to the most flying with the least interference from her family. At the age of 21, as she neared the middle of her junior year of the Academy, the Unification War broke out. Despite her father's attempts to maneuver assignments to keep her off of the front line, Octavia managed to skip ahead and join the war effort. Piloting a fighter was a dream, and while she suffered from her lack of experience, Tavi's virtuoso understanding of three dimensional flight saved her more than once. Her ship was destroyed twice during the first year of the war, but luckily she was picked up out of the rubble by the Alliance. It was pure chance that she survived, and each time it gave Octavia a greater appreciation for the Black.

In 2509, she was promoted to lieutenant and placed on board an interceptor, hunting down Browncoat supply chains. They were meagre, and relied on smugglers to try and evade Alliance blockades. She maintained that post until the end of the war, piloting the agile vessel through the Black and keeping up with the hard burning smuggling vessels who all too often decided to flee instead of surrendering. For her service, in 2511, Tavi was promoted to lieutenant commander. It was an honor, and once she felt she deserved.

On board the Caduceus, she served as pilot performing the same basic task that had occupied the last portion of the War for her. Hunting down smugglers, following orders, and navigating the stars in search for illicit cargo. It was a good life, hard at times but certainly rewarding after a nice interception. She occupied her off-hours swapping stories with the other crewmen (of which there were only about eleven, not including the captain or commander) about the Unification War, about the 'Reavers' and other such boogeymen, and all too often smoking. She sent vids back to her parents regularly, keeping up with her father's political career and her mother's economic prowess. It gave her pride to be part of the Yeats family, but on the Caduceus? It didn't matter who her parents were--so long as she could pull her weight and follow orders, she got to eat.

In 2516, she was promoted to commander. Her youth was a matter of some consternation, given she had only served the bare minimum of time in the Alliance Navy for such a promotion, and talk of nepotism circled among the crew. The social isolation Tavi had suffered as a child began to creep back into her psyche, despite her best efforts.

And then, one day, as fate is so wont to do, everything changed.

The sensors picked up a vessel at hard burn, leaking radiation at an unsafe level. The readings were consistent with a ship post-assault, and given the lack of reported trade routing through the area, the captain determined the cause was either a pirate or a smuggler (or the victim of such heartless bastards). On his order, Octavia took the Caduceus and headed the suspected smuggler off at the pass.

It wasn't a smuggler. As the Caduceus went in to clamp onto the ship and begin the boarding process, the Reavers attacked. They were merciless and they were insane, and the Alliance crew, not believing the old wives' tales about such creatures, were caught completely off-guard. It was only a single Reaver ship, but most of the Alliance crew died trying to disentangle their ship from the Reavers'. Tavi, with her trusty shotgun, did her best to repel the invaders--but getting a clear shot with an inaccurate weapon was difficult. She watched as men were cut open, as Reavers left themselves open to attack while bending over still-writhing men and eating into their flesh. She watched as the crews of the ships fought each other into the grave. Only two or three of the Alliance personnel survived.

Tavi wasn't conscious. The savagery and the inhumanity of the attack had sent her agile, brilliant mind into a tailspin. She collapsed and went quiet, the trauma shutting her down.

Time stopped for a bit. And when it started again, Tavi wasn't the same.
---
What transpired during the Mutiny, Tavi can't say for certain. It's been six months since the Reaver attack, and Tavi's turned hard into substance abuse to medicate. She suffers constantly from the shellshock of the attack, finding relief inside a syringe, the bottom of a bottle, or in delightful little pills--whatever she has in stock. While she can still make a freighter pirouette on cue, most everything else in her life is fractured and brittle. Her parents believe she's dead. In some ways, they aren't wrong. But Tavi's not ready to return to her old life. She's not ready to deal with the consequences of the trauma she experienced. Not yet.

2517, The Unification War has been over for a decade and Miranda is still a secret. Into The Black is an Alternate Universe Firefly & Serenity fandom roleplaying game. It centers around independent crews of different ships which travel all over the 'verse created by Joss Whedon.